Chapter 196: Memories in the Dark

Artasha calmly looked around.

She couldn’t see even an inch ahead. All that reached her vision was pitch-black darkness.

The air was stifling and heavy, and her body wouldn’t move easily.

It felt as if she had sunk to the deepest part of the ocean, where light couldn’t reach.

‘…Tina.’

Artasha stretched out her arm and moved forward.

Pushing through the darkness, she kept moving endlessly in search of her unseen daughter.

How long had she been swimming?

While she aimlessly drifted for what felt like an eternity, a faint shimmer of light flickered in the distance.

Artasha headed straight toward the light.

It was a tiny ember, smaller than the palm of her hand. That little spark slowly approached her.

And finally, the moment the ember landed in Artasha’s hand—

A bright flash filled her vision, and the space around her changed.

‘…Where is this?’

It was a strange, unfamiliar space.

A small room decorated in a style she had never seen in the Empire.

And in one corner of that room, the girl Artasha had been desperately searching for sat curled up.

“Tina…!”

The voice that slipped out between Artasha’s lips didn’t reach the girl.

Panicked, Artasha rushed to Tina and tried to embrace her.

But her fingertips only passed through the air—she couldn’t grasp Tina’s body.

‘…What is this?’

Just as confusion overtook her, a sound came from somewhere in the room.

The clinking of metal. Then the turn of a doorknob.

Instinctively looking toward the source of the noise, Artasha saw a woman enter.

“Mom…!”

Tina stood up with a smile on her face.

At that moment, seeing her daughter’s face clearly, Artasha was overwhelmed with confusion.

Snow-white hair and blue eyes. Distinct features—there was no doubt the girl before her was Tina.

But her small build and youthful face looked no older than five.

It was like seeing Tina’s childhood self.

However, that wasn’t what had truly shaken Artasha.

Her emaciated body, with bones clearly visible—no amount of fasting for days would cause such severe weight loss.

Dark bruises stained her skin, and dried blood clung to her pale face like crusted scabs.

Even so, Tina beamed brightly as she approached the dark-haired woman.

“You waited so well, didn’t you?”

The woman Tina had called “Mom” stroked her hair gently.

Tina tapped her two fingers together cautiously, watching the woman’s reaction.

[Mother… looks like she’s in a good mood…]

A voice rang out inside Artasha’s head.

Tina’s lips hadn’t moved in the slightest, but it was unmistakably her voice.

Could it be… that she was hearing Tina’s thoughts?

Artasha slowly stepped back, watching Tina and her “mother.”

[Should I try asking today…?]

Again, Tina’s thoughts echoed in Artasha’s mind.

She seemed deeply hesitant, as if contemplating something important.

After fidgeting with her fingers for a while, Tina finally gathered the courage to look up at her mother.

“Mom… I have something I want to ask…”

“What is it?”

“A… an encyclopedia…”

Little Tina spread her hands wide, mimicking the act of reading a book.

“…An encyclopedia?”

Her mother asked again, sounding puzzled, and Tina gave a small nod.

“I… I want to have an encyclopedia…”

“Hm.”

A gentle smile spread across her mother’s lips.

She softly stroked Tina’s hair and asked quietly,

“Why do you want an encyclopedia?”

“Well, um… I heard that if you just memorize the encyclopedia, you can become really smart.”

“And why do you want to be smart?”

“Th-that’s because…”

Tina fidgeted, hesitant.

With effort, she parted her lips and whispered in a small voice,

“So I can become smart… make a lot of money… and make you happy….”

Tina’s eyes sparkled with hope and anticipation.

Seeing that sweet gaze, her mother gently covered her mouth with her hand and smiled.

“Oh my… how admirable. You’re doing it for me?”

“Yes, yes!”

Tina nodded vigorously, eyes shining.

Then her mother withdrew her hand from Tina’s head.

“But where did you hear that reading an encyclopedia makes you smart?”

“Huh…? Ah, um, that, that’s…”

“You must’ve watched TV behind my back again.”

Tina tried to speak in her defense, her lips moving—but no sound came out.

SMACK—!

Instead, a sharp, tearing sound split the air like flesh being ripped apart.

SMACK—!

And once more.

The woman’s palm struck young Tina’s cheek with force.

The small, underdeveloped body couldn’t withstand the blow from an adult and tumbled to the floor.

“I told you, goddammit, not to move an inch from this room!”

The mother grabbed a stick from the corner of the room.

A threatening object, with a twisted metal tip at the end.

She gripped the cold metal part in her hand and brought the stick down.

Thud—! Thud!

Tina screamed in agony, writhing in pain.

She curled her tiny arms and legs to shield herself, but it was useless.

‘Tina!!’

Artasha’s eyes blazed with fury.

She rushed at the woman like a madperson.

She stretched out her hand, as if to slam the woman to the floor and beat her senseless…

But before her fingers could touch her, the space twisted.

The scene before her scattered like shattered glass, and once again, pitch-black darkness swallowed the world.

“T-Tina…”

Artasha looked around anxiously.

In the distance, another small light flickered.

There was no time to hesitate. She ran straight toward it and grasped the light in her hand.

Darkness receded again, and color seeped into the space.

Tina appeared once more.

But this time, it wasn’t the same room as before.

The interior had a similar feel, but this place was much larger—more like a living room.

A small shadow crept out of a door and tiptoed into the living room.

[She drank today… so she’ll sleep for a long time… right…?]

Tina’s thoughts echoed once again in Artasha’s mind.

She carefully checked her surroundings, holding even her breath in fear that her mother might wake up.

Tina cautiously approached the dining table.

A pot filled with red broth—and beneath it, like a coaster, a single book.

She gingerly reached out and pulled the book free.

She moved silently back to her room.

After firmly closing the door, she looked down at the old, tattered book in her hands with a bright smile.

[Hehe…]

Humming in her head, she opened the book.

The pages were filled with densely packed small letters.

Dry, pictureless text.

[…I don’t get it.]

Tina frowned and glared at the book.

It was far too difficult.

Just looking at the densely packed words made her head ache—it was a level of book far beyond what a little girl could handle.

Even so, she clenched her teeth and began reading, groaning, one letter at a time.

[I can’t make Mom happy… but money can… so I’ll make lots of money to make Mom happy…]

The moment Tina’s thoughts echoed in her mind, Artasha clenched her fist tightly.

[I’ll earn a lot of money… so I can play with Mom as much as I want and live without any lack.]

Tina’s desperate wish was conveyed at last, and the scene before her eyes quietly faded away.

A deep and heavy darkness swallowed the space.

Left alone, Artasha slowly bowed her head.

“…A memory.”

She murmured quietly.

The Archdemon had definitely said it.

That this place held all of Tina’s memories along with her.

If that was true, then the scenes she had just witnessed must have been memories Tina had held onto in her past life.

Tina’s memories, seething with anger just by witnessing them, pierced Artasha’s heart like a blade.

Another flicker of flame stirred before her eyes.

Artasha calmly embraced it with steady eyes.

And then, a new scene unfolded.

There, Tina was being beaten.

Her mother’s foot pressed roughly into the child’s back, and her hand mercilessly yanked at Tina’s hair.

“This damned face! He left me because of this cursed face!”

The enraged screams crushed Tina, who could only curl up, lacking even the strength to scream.

Artasha said nothing. She silently watched the hellish scene unfold until the end.

One by one, like that.

Artasha bore witness to all of Tina’s past.

Her mother resented her own child.

She believed the reason the man she loved had left with another woman was because this child had been born.

After losing her husband, all she had left was this shabby house.

And she poured all her fury onto her daughter.

She crushed the face that resembled both her husband and herself.

And at the same time, she made sure the child could never escape from her.

The woman whispered sweet words to the child while unleashing all her resentment and desire through cruel violence.

‘…I see now.’

The final flicker slowly faded in Artasha’s hands.

Now she understood—

Why Tina was so obsessed with money.

Why she never wanted to show her true self to others.

Why she seemed so indifferent to her own life.

Now, finally, she understood.

“I understand everything now.”

Artasha lifted her head.

In her eyes lingered an emotion that could not be explained.

“So now, please… come out. Tina.”

Within the endless darkness—

Another flicker of flame wavered and approached her.

It was a completely different light from the pure white flame she had seen before.

A precarious, ashen flame, like it could go out at any moment.

A flame so fragile, so pitiful.

Artasha reached out gently and embraced it.

The space trembled, and once again, Tina appeared.

No longer a little girl—now she was a grown, mature woman.

“…Daughter.”

She sat curled up in the corner of the room, hugging her knees, her face buried in them.

Artasha held her words for a moment.

In the silence that flowed, she quietly closed her eyes and collected her thoughts.

The memories she had seen up to now—it occurred to her that they were ones Tina had chosen to show her.

They must be the past Tina wanted to hide more than anything.

Perhaps by revealing these memories, Tina was trying to push her away.

—There’s no way Mother would love someone as ugly and filthy as me.

Maybe that’s what Tina had been thinking.

That was just like Tina Blannde—so smart, yet sometimes prone to useless overthinking.

Artasha slowly opened her eyes.

“…Daughter.”

Artasha called out to Tina once more.

There was no reply.

Having expected silence, Artasha took a light step forward and spoke in a voice tinged with a faint smile.

“I’m so nervous, I need to pee. Don’t you want to help your mom out a little?”

At that sorrowful yet teasing voice—

Tina’s body flinched noticeably.